A/N: 50 reviews for chapter 9. This last chapter, 12 reviews. I was surprised until I realized that you guys are like one of those schools of tiny fish that all go in one direction and then instantly another, all together, without even talking to each other. Silly.

I hope you enjoy this one, little fishies.


That night, they sneak out after everyone else is in bed. They shuck their robes and slip into the hot tub. This time Jane isn't the least surprised when Maura straddles her. This time, Jane isn't ashamed of staring at Maura in that goddamned tiny little bikini. This time Maura doesn't hide her pleasure in having Jane look at her like that, although, to be honest, she hadn't really been hiding it the first time either.

This time Jane gets to lean into the black hole, letting it suck up her hands and, after about ten minutes, her entire face. This time, after about half an hour, that tiny bikini is swirling around in the corner all by itself as Jane indulges herself. After an hour, it's joined by Jane's smallest bikini (which is still much more substantial than Maura's, because, lord Jesus, everything in the world is more substantial than that). They float in companionable silence, pushed to a fro in the jets, as their former wearers do some slightly less silent activities.

A while later, Maura is happily boneless against Jane. Jane is rubbing her back softly under the water, and neither has ever been so relaxed. "I'm gonna miss this hot tub."

Maura smiles against her shoulder. "I'll have one installed in my backyard first thing."

"You have a backyard?"

Maura nods. Jane grins. "Awesome."

Maura nips her shoulder before sitting up. Jane groans at the loss of contact. Maura glides over to their suits and hands hers to Jane. "Help me put this on, please."

"Why? Why we gotta leave? I love this hot tub. This hot tub is my new happy place."

Maura just smiles. "Because, Jane. My fingers are getting wrinkled. And I really need to maintain my dexterity for what I have planned for the rest of the night."

Jane is out of the hot tub in a flash. She, butt naked, holds out Maura's robe for her to step into. "Then fuck the bathing suit, Maura, and hurry the hell out of that hot tub."

Much later, Jane mumbles softly into Maura's collarbone. "I think you're my new happy place."

Maura kisses her head and drifts off to sleep.


The next morning is, unfortunately, Maura's full-day date with Brockton. She tried to get Jane to be the PA on it, but Jane refused, claiming that it would be worse to watch than to wait.

They drive down to a beach on the Rhode Island border. He drives them in a convertible, and her hair is absolutely terrible in the first three minutes. By the time they arrive, Maura is carsick because Brockton insisted on driving like a total dick and in a terrible mood because of how long she spent on her hair this morning. He was also incredibly handsy in the car, which bodes terribly for the rest of the day, and also explains some of her nausea. She's honestly not sure she can make it through the date without slapping him or puking on his shoes. But she's going to try. For Jane, she's going to try.

They walk down to the beach. He leads her to an umbrella set up a few yards back from the shore. There are two surfboards under the umbrella, and Maura's spirits rise for the first time. They both pull on wetsuits (hers, she's unsurprised to find, is too small, sleeveless, and only goes to her knees, rendering it nearly useless) and drag the boards out to a flat stretch of sand in the sunshine.

She suffers through half an hour of him mansplaining how to surf before they finally head into the water. Her ballet, fencing, yoga, and equestrian experience pays off, and after a while she doesn't even need a push from him to stand up on each wave she chooses. At that point, he surfs his own waves, and she can almost pretend he doesn't exist. The wind in her hair and the burn in her muscles feel amazing and she's actually able to relax and truly enjoy herself.

But all to soon, the fun part is over, and he pulls her back into shore. Leaving their boards for a PA to deal with, he immediately starts stripping the wetsuit off of her. Without asking, he grabs her zipper and jerks it down before sticking his hands in it and squeezing her breasts, hard, before she can stop him. She flushes with fury and disgust, only a breath away from picking up her surfboard and braining him with it. She tears her body away from him, spinning, ready to spit fury at him for groping her without her consent.

But, like at the end of romance novel or a Kate Hudson movie, suddenly, as if her fury has conjured her protector, Jane is there. Jane is there, and it takes Maura a second to register that instead of PA uniform of a black jeans and a black t-shirt, Jane is wearing a grey suit with a blue v-neck under it. That Jane is wearing boots and a belt with a badge and a gun clipped to it. That Jane is sexier than Maura has ever seen her.

That Jane is out-of-cover.

Jane marches up and grabs Brockton's arms, twisting them behind him. Before he can even squawk in protest, she looks up at Maura, careful to make eye contact. "Are you okay?"

Maura nods quickly. She is under no illusions about the fact that if she had said no, Jane would have shot Brockton right then and there, in front of the cameras and Frost (when did he get here?) and the other detective-looking people standing with him.

"Good," Jane grunts and, holding his arms in one hand, she swings a practiced hand to her belt and, in the blink of an eye, snaps her cuffs onto his wrists.

Brockton finds his voice. "What the hell are you doing? Who the hell are you? This is outrageous!"

But Jane just chuckles and tightens the cuffs.

"This is illegal! Call my lawyer!"

"Oh, you're gonna want to call your lawyer, that's for sure." Jane is positively smirking. She quickly reads him his rights, but he yells over most of them. It's too bad, because she's sure he's too dumb to know them himself.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING PA. YOU CAN'T ARREST ME. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING."

Jane leans in from behind him, really close. Looming, terrifying. "I'm a fucking Detective, you dickbag. Show some respect to your betters, why don't you."

"Fucking bitch."

She laughs, and steps around to his front. "That's Detective Bitch to you, douchebag."

He rears up his head. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ARRESTING ME FOR?"

Jane sighs, exasperatedly. She throws him down on his ass in the sand. "Well, I'm pretty sure I just fucking told you that, but since we have to wait for the bus to get here, I'll remind you." Before she does, she looks over to Maura again. "Maur, are you really okay? I got here as soon as I could, but I know it was too long..."

Maura smiles at her, deeply confused, as she hasn't heard the charges either, but probably thrilled. "Yes, I'm fine, Jane."

"Good." They share a soft smile before Jane turns back to Brockton and Maura quickly strips off the wetsuit and puts on a robe over her wet bathing suit as she listens.

"Well, douchebag, I guess being on The Bachelor wasn't going to be enough fame for you. So, like an idiot, you decided to up the ante. You wanted more press than a regular season of the show. So YOU sent threatening messages to the network, including, but not limited to, bomb threats, shooting threats, and threats of poison. Of course, you were too much of a dick to target yourself, even for pretend, so you threatened the women. Real chivalrous, by the way. But the network covered it up. They didn't want word of the threat to get out, so they hired me to watch the girls and kept it hush hush."

Brockton protests loudly, but Jane just rolls her eyes at him and kicks some sand in his direction. "Shut, up, douchebag." She continues with her story. "Then you tried to blow up one of the limos the girls drive around in. You weren't dumb enough to try to kill them, props on that one, but you tried to get enough of an explosion to bring the press. But I stopped that one before it happened, and you didn't get your precious press. Your c-4 connection ratted on the operation, by the way. He wasn't as helpful as he could have been, but he sent us on the right track. You should pick less weaselly people next time. But hey, lucky you, you'll have time to renew your acquaintance. He's going to jail too. He was dumb enough to think his deal would hold after he fractured my nose. But then I broke his balls AND sent him to jail, so I think I won that round, don't you, B-town?" Maura smiles to herself, understanding just what she popped out that night in the living room when Jane started to come back to her.

By this time, Brockton is terrified into silence. He keeps looking down at his crotch, as if to reassure himself that his balls are still in tact. Jane just laughs, ruthlessly, before going on.

"Then, you hired someone to shoot at me and Maura. That was a mistake, buddy. A really big mistake. You know why?" She leans in to his personal space, towering over him, completely threatening. He trembles and she leers at him. "That really pissed me off." She winks and backs up. "By the way, your breath is terrible. Anyway, we didn't publicize that either, and you were running out of time, weren't you? So you hired a hit man to get into the house and do some real damage. Something the network wouldn't be able to cover up. You were gonna jump in and save the girls from him, be a real hero. But that guy, now that guy had a spine. He realized that you were going to turn him in, let him rot in jail while you posed for People magazine. So he came at you. He came at you and you beat the shit out of him. He got some good ones in too, but you knocked him one too many times in the head and he died. He died, buddy. So now you're going down for murder. Those guys over there," she jerks her head over the men standing by Frost, "they're homicide detectives. They're here to book you. For homicide."

He sputters. Jane laughs again, before walking over and pulling him to his feet. She surprises everyone by uncuffing him and spinning him around to face her. She gets up in his face and hisses, "You make trouble and I'll shoot you right here, you understand?" He nods. He's not a great criminal.

Jane strips off his wetsuit, revealing a mottled deep black bruise over his lower left ribs. She motions Maura over. "Hey Maur. You think fists could have made that injury?"

Maura leans in. She pokes the epicenter, not particularly gently. He positively yelps. She stands back up and leans very close to Jane. "It's very likely that this injury was made by a fist, approximately eight to ten days ago."

Jane smiles down at her. "Thanks, Maur. And just to clarify, this is not from appendicitis, is it?" Jane winks, and Maura gets it. Jane wasn't being petty in the bathroom when she'd asked about Brockton's injuries. She was detecting. Damn. Maura's definitely going to wear that leather jacket for her. Soon.

Jane, obvious to how her detecting is making Maura feel, continues with her show-and-tell. "And hey, Maur, how about this bruising." She darts her hand out, quick as a flash, and grab's Brockton's right wrist.

Maura gasps. Brockton must have been wearing concealer on his hands this morning, but the salt water has washed it off. His knuckles are a mess of bruises and small cuts. "This bruising is consistent with what I would expect to find on the hand of someone who inflicted the damage I saw on the body of the hit man, Detective." Maura quickly walks Jane through the most obvious of the connections, and Jane beams at her. One of the homicide detectives in particular looks openly impressed and thoughtful.

Jane slaps the cuffs back on Brockton and throws him toward the police car that has just driven up to their spot on the beach. "Well, d-bag, it's been real. Have a good time in prison, pretty boy." She carelessly tosses him into the bus and turns away. But, before she's more than a few steps away, she turns back. "Oh, and Brockton?" He looks up at her, simmering with anger and fear. She leans in so that only he can hear her. "I've been banging Maura since week four." His jaw drops to the floor.

With a satisfied sneer, Jane slams the door and the bus drives off.

Jane walks back over to Maura, immediately cupping her face and looking intently into her eyes. "Are you really okay? It took me so much longer to get here than I wanted it to, I'm so sorry, love."

Maura just smiles up at her. "Jane." She shakes her head lightly. "You were perfect."

Jane pulls her in, and Maura snuggles up immediately, breathing in Jane's scent and letting all of her anxiety and anger leave her body. It's over. It's all over. Jane drops a kiss on her head and Maura looks up, asking for, and joyfully accepting, a long gentle kiss on her lips.

They only break away at the sound of wolf whistle. Frost and the interested homicide detective walk up. Frost is beaming. "Something you want to share with the class, Rizzoli?"

Maura expects Jane to step away from her, to snap at him, to call him turd, to kick sand in his face. But instead she just slips an arm around Maura, pulling the doctor into her, and grins. "Well, what can I say? There's nothing like arresting the douchebag who's been putting moves on your woman to end an assignment in triumph."

She and Frost laugh, and Maura stands on tip toes to kiss Jane's cheek. Her woman. God, yes.

The other detective clears his throat. "Oh sorry, Maur," Jane says hastily. "This is Detective Vince Korsak, Boston Homicide. Korsak, this is Dr. Maura Isles, the pathologist from Mass General I told you about."

Korsak and Maura shake hands before he turns to Jane. "Here's somethin' else to help you end this assignment in triumph. Nice job, Rizzoli. Brass noticed." He passes her a piece of paper. She looks at it for a long moment, before lifting her eyes to his in disbelief.

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack."

She thrusts the paper over to Maura and leaps over to Korsak, giving him a gigantic bear hug. Maura quickly scans the paper and feels her heart begin to race with pleasure. It's an application to transfer to Homicide.

She thinks she can't get any happier until Jane bounds back over and kisses her until she nearly faints from lack of oxygen.


The return to the house is surreal. Maura and Jane drive back in Jane's unmarked police cruiser, the first thing of Jane's real life that Maura has ever touched. It smells like old fast food and it's cluttered beyond belief. Maura loves it. She vows to buy Jane an air freshener, but she loves it.

When they arrive at the house, Jane calls all the girls, producers, cameramen, chefs, and support staff into the big living room. Once everyone has arrived, she calmly and slowly explains to everyone what has happened. She has to say everything about a million times because all of them are completely dumbfounded. Kelly and Mel are sobbing. Chloe is confused and upset and scared that someone was targeting her and she didn't know. The crew is furious and yelling really legitimate questions about their pay. When Jane gets overwhelmed, Maura comes and stands behind her, rubbing her back softly. Jane stands up a little straighter and keeps everyone in line.

Finally, the top producers get on the phone with the network, and they take over the small living room for an emergency meeting. Jane is called into it, obviously, leaving Maura alone with the rest. She sees the anger and frustration in Kelly and Mel's eyes, so she quickly runs away to take a shower.

A few draining hours later, Jane and the producers finally emerge. They call the large meeting back to order. The head producer announces that they will not be airing this season of The Bachelor at all. "Detective Rizzoli, the BPD, and the network have decided that airing this season will only inspire other psychos out there to target the women of The Bachelor to make a name for themselves. I'm sorry, but the footage from this season will all be sent to BPD as evidence and will not air. Kelly, Mel, Maura, and Chloe - each of you will be invited to next season of The Bachelor and will be guaranteed a spot in the top twenty." Kelly and Mel perk up at this. Maura snuggles deeper into Jane. No fucking thank you. "The rest of you will be paid your guaranteed salary even though we are ending filming early." At this, all of the crew looks to Jane, who just nods at them. Maura squeezes her tighter. She's the fucking best one. "We'll have revised privacy agreements for you to sign by tomorrow morning, at which time you'll be allowed to leave the premises."

Kelly and Mel cry out of frustration for all of the time they have wasted. Chloe cries because it seems like the thing to do. As quickly as they can, Maura and Jane run away to Jane's bedroom where they happily make out for hours. They both know, without saying it, that Maura's career will be much more successful without having the black mark of The Bachelor on it. This is extra important to Jane, because Korsak told her that there's an opening for a Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and that the Chief is looking to retire in five years. Jane can't stop thinking about Rizzoli and Isles, crime fighters and (yeckh, that word) lovers.


The next morning, privacy agreements signed and bags packed, Jane and Maura, hand in hand, walk out of the house and into their real lives.


A/N: Just an epilogue left now, which will probably be in two parts.

Also, this ending has been my plan since the very beginning. But, a review on the last chapter from the delightful SoLetsPlayDoctorBabe got me thinking. They wondered what it would be like for Maura to make it all the way to last episode of The Bachelor, and that got me wondering as well. Would you all be interested in reading an alternate ending, just a few chapters, in which I play with that idea? Let me know in a review or PM - if we have a quorum, I'll make it happen!